Audio issues

So, I finally made it through the setup and got into a new game! Yay me!

(BTW, no idea why, but my new character came into the game with a helmet on! Unable to take it off during character creation phase. Weird.)

Here are the issues with my audio:

1. I have to preset my volume on my computer up way high before entering the game as I have no ability, other than the in-game audio settings, to adjust the volume. Once in-game I can go in and fiddle with volumes. But that seems odd.

Thanks, again! I got the headphone thing working...well, just used my Bluetooth earbuds and it worked fine. :-) Now to figure out what to adjust to eliminate the little bit of stutter going on. And to let the creator of the Whiterun mod know that the cobblestones in front of the WR stables are not set to the ground! :-D